Career Path Of A District Representative At Placer County

Yes, thank you. That's a good question. I took a couple of twists and turns to get here. I went to college later in life, as I had a different plan after high school that eventually changed. Finally, I ended up at Sac State, majoring in business with a concentration in financial planning.

This was spurred by the idea of solving puzzles and living through the economic downturn of '08. Seeing how much money people lost, and thus their security, I figured I needed to understand that better to avoid being in that position myself.

After graduating from Sac State, I was recruited to work at a large financial services firm. It was a great company and provided valuable experience and taught me a lot about the industry. However, during that job, I started doing a lot of volunteer work within the community.

I connected with people on a more grassroots level. While my education was helpful in solving financial puzzles, applying it to nonprofits or community organizations was challenging for them. They didn't have someone who could interpret financial reports like P&L statements or understand budgeting, especially when they were 100% donation-based.

I saw a real need for these services and decided to figure out how to make that happen while growing a business. Then, unfortunately, the whole world shut down. This made me pause and consider what was truly important.

Financial services are great, but when the world stops, life changes. Priorities shift, and life itself becomes more important. The situation created an equalizer where no one was working, and no one had money to spend because of the uncertainty.

This re-triggered my initial passion for mental health services, psychological counseling, and hypnotherapy. I then took the knowledge gained from Sac State and restructured it to help businesses and nonprofits navigate that stressful time during the pandemic.

I did a lot of work with the Chamber of Commerce and eventually became its CEO, as opportunities presented themselves. Through that role, I became more involved in local government. When the world began to reopen, the role of District Representative became available.

It felt like an opportunity to do the volunteer work I had been doing, but now on a more official capacity. The rest, as they say, is history. I love it; it's great to be involved in policy and procedural matters that affect the region and the people I've volunteered with. Now, I can use the grassroots approach I learned to help internally at the government level.